Published: March 26, 2008 09:32 pm         

Crew to clean up mercury found in surplus room on BSC campus

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — An environmental clean-up crew is scheduled to start tearing out contaminated flooring Thursday in a Bluefield State College store room where mercury was discovered.

Mercury was found earlier this week on the ground floor of the Ned Shott Gymnasium, said BSC spokesman Jim Nelson. The space where it was located is known as the surplus room.

“There was what appeared to be a suspicious looking substance, kind of silvery in color, in a two foot by three foot area on the floor,” Nelson said. “The room is used for holding desks, chairs and other materials taken out of use. It has a very low foot traffic. The college locked down that area and taped it off.”

Clean Harbors, a hazardous waste clean-up firm out of North Carolina, visited the campus late Tuesday and confirmed that the substance was mercury. After contacting other state colleges, BSC called Pinnacle Environmental Consultants about checking the building, Nelson said.

“They came in today and did a sweep of the building and it appears the air quality is okay,” he said. “Trace amounts were found in the hallway adjacent the room and that was taped off.”

A clean up crew is scheduled to remove contaminated flooring today, Nelson said. The mercury’s source had not been determined Wednesday.

“It’s all speculative right now,” he said.

Informing the student body and college staff about the mercury became the initial run of the college’s new warning system, BSC ALERT, Nelson said. People who had signed up for the service received notices on their cell phones.

An effort to clean up a mercury spill discovered earlier this year at another Mercer County institution was nearing completion Wednesday.

Floors of Concord University’s Science Building on the Athens campus were closed in mid-January after mercury was found in a store room. Elemental mercury was found in the floor tile cracks of a third floor store room used by a retired physics professor.

Classes on the floor were moved to the campus’s new Nick Rahall Technology Center. Clean Harbors was contracted to handle the mercury removal.



Greg Jordan writes for the Bluefield (W.Va.) DailyTelegraph.